Adliterate aphorisms

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative” Oscar Wilde – Aphorist par excellence
Aphorism (From the Greek, to define), literally a distinction or a definition, is a term used to describe a principle expressed tersely in a few telling words, in such a way that when once heard it is unlikely to pass from the memory. Source: Wikipedia
Here ten of mine with the emphasis on the word terse.
1) In my day we make our own entertainment
2) New media is too important to be left to new media agencies
3) There is no such thing as a low interest category only low interest thinking
4) Every brand needs an opinion, opinions are the life blood of conversation
5) Ad avoidance has become so endemic it is almost a national sport
6) The IPA effectiveness awards wouldn’t win an award for effectiveness
7) Only poor advertising has a predictable result
8) You are more likely to be right by trying to be interesting than by trying to be right
9) What good is the fame that comes from having your ads talked about without the fortune that comes from having your brand talked about?
10)Great brands create culture, weak brands copy it

14 comments

Loving these, chief.
Couple of mine:
If you aren’t online, you’re against us.
To be a good communicator, you have to be a good listener.
Good listeners don’t interrupt.
If you want my attention, buy me a drink.
You don’t want customers, you want fans.

David O'Hanlon says:

Apr 21, 2006

I’ve always liked…
The current research is true; the previous research is in the cupboard
There’s never time to do the job properly, but there’s always time to do it again

Gosh – some seriously impressive thinking from Richard there – as always – probably all your own too – talented so and so… May I be permitted to add something not exactly aphoristic but neverless appropriate? Forgive the diversion but it rather neatly underlines the fact we are not exactly experiencing a new and unexpected reaction to our carefully crafted communications:
“Whatever is common is despised. Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises, and by eloquence sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetick.”
Interesting that this was written by Samuel Johnson in 1759. ‘Plus ca change…’

Just to atone for the earlier diversion:
On research:
‘There is no absolute truth – merely a series of possibilities’
On data:
‘93.6% of all data used in advertising is partially correct but precisely wrong’

On Ideas
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
There is nothing more frightful than imagination without taste.
On Brands
Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a brand becomes famous because it has the proper stuff in it.
On Research
We don’t get to know people when they come to us; we must go to them to find out what they are like.
Goethe [with some tampering]
Talent imitates, genius steals ;-)

What I love most is that the line “Talent Imitates Genius Steals” is itself stolen from the Designers Republic’s famous “Talent Borrow Genius Steals” line!
A set of 3 i like is:
Youth is wasted on the young
Wealth is wasted in the old
Both would gladly trade
Another one I like in regards to advertising:
Theres safety in numbers, but no numbers in safety.